Cal Basketball: Bears Will Open Pac-12 Play vs. Oregon State at Home on Dec. 2

The Cal men’s basketball team will open Pac-12 play Dec. 2 at home against 2021 NCAA tournament surprise Oregon State, then will visit Utah on Dec. 5, the conference announced on Tuesday.

The Pac-12 also released a new 10-year annual schedule rotation for its 20-game conference slate. For the Bears, that means they will face Oregon and Colorado just once each in 2021-22, with Cal playing on the road against the Ducks and at home vs. the Buffaloes.

Cal will play home and away against the other nine Pac-12 teams. Schedule dates for the remainder of the conference season will be announced at a later date.

The Bears will play at the Fort Myers Tip-Off from Nov. 25-27, an event also featuring Florida, Ohio State and Seton Hall. The Buckeyes are expected to be a national contender this season and include former Cal standout Justice Sueing.

Matchups for the Fort Myers event have not been announced.

Cal is coming off a 9-20 season in 2020-21, including a 3-17 record in Pac-12 play. Coach Mark Fox will enter his third season without top scorer Matt Bradley, who transferred to San Diego State after the season.

Here is the full rundown of early Pac-12 games:

Pac-12 Men's Basketball 2021-22 Early Conference Games

Sunday, Nov. 28 - Stanford at Colorado

Wednesday, Dec. 1 - Colorado at UCLA; Utah at USC; Washington State at Arizona State

Thursday, Dec. 2 - Oregon State at California; Washington at Arizona

Saturday, Dec. 4 - USC at Washington State

Sunday, Dec. 5 - Arizona at Oregon State; Arizona State at Oregon; California at Utah; UCLA at Washington

Sunday, Dec. 12 - Oregon at Stanford

Cal’s conference-opening foe, Oregon State, is coming off a surprising campaign in which it qualified for the NCAA tournament for just the second time since 1990, then claimed wins over Tennessee, Oklahoma State and Loyola Chicago before losing to Houston in the Elite 8.

Picked last in the Pac-12, the Beavers were 20-13, including 10-10 in Pac-12 play. The Beavers beat Cal three times last year, one of them a non-conference matchup.

Here’s the new Pac-12 10-year schedule rotation:

Cover photo of Cal point guard Joel Brown by Stan Szeto, USA Today

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo